Sports floors provide a high level of resiliency and shock absorption, and also preferably provide uniform play and safety to all participants. It is also preferred that sports floor systems maintain stability especially under changing environmental conditions.
A common sports floor system can be described as an upper playing surface attached to a subfloor structure, which is supported by resilient mounts. Often the upper playing surface is constructed of hardwood flooring. Sports floor systems such as these are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,710 to Randjelovic et al, entitled “Resilient subfloor pad”.
The resilient mounts such as those described in the Randjelovic patent are widely used in support of subfloor construction. The resilient mounts provide deflection as athletic impacts occur on the surface of the system. Most typically the resilient mounts are attached to the underside of subfloor plates such as plywood sheeting. The subfloor structure supported by the resilient mounts is not limited to plywood plate components and may include other components such as softwood sleepers or other suitable support material.
The sports floor systems previously described offer shock absorption to athletic participants. However, as these floor systems are free floating, there is no provision to assure proper contact of the resilient mounts to the supporting substrate. Free floating systems such as these, when installed over uneven substrates, may provide non-uniform deflection under athletic load, causing uneven shock absorption under impact. For example, the non-uniform reflection of the basketball off the floor creates a condition typically referred to as dead spots.
It would be desirable to have a floating floor system that overcomes the limitations of the floors of the prior art as well as improving the load distribution and shock absorption characteristics.